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In the quiet summer, the sky is dotted with stars, and my heart is filled with longing, longing for your face... In the midsummer of 2004, the song "Ningxia" sung by Fish Leong became a hit all over the country. The simple lyrics and the pure voice of Fish Leong are like the cool breeze on your face and the bright moon on a summer night.
You may have heard this song, but did you know its origins actually lie in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region? In 2004, the song's creator, renowned record producer Li Zhengfan, visited Wangmin Middle School in Xihaigu, Ningxia. The students there had never seen Snoopy or known what Coca-Cola was. The Loess Plateau was defined by its mere blue sky, green trees, and loess. In just three days, Li Zhengfan penned the song "Ningxia," capturing the profound emotion these Ningxia students had for him and capturing the unforgettable memories of that peaceful summer.
The weather in the south has been extremely hot recently. When I suddenly heard this song by Fish Leong again, not only did I feel a lot cooler physically and mentally, but it also made me want to go to Ningxia for a visit.
I heard that Ningxia is located on the 38th parallel north. This mysterious latitude is famous for its many cities, beautiful scenery and abundant resources. It is not only recognized by the industry as the golden area for growing wine grapes and producing high-end wines, but also an area where many mysteries converge, such as Bermuda, which is famous for its terror, the ancient kingdom of Loulan that was destroyed overnight, California's Death Valley, the mysteriously disappeared Western Xia Kingdom, etc., all occurred on this magical latitude. At the same time, it is also a dream landscape line for appreciating the magnificent starry sky.
Ningxiacheck the details
[Cultural Tourism Slogan] Jiangnan on the Great Wall, Magical Ningxia. Known as "Jiangnan on the Great Wall," Ningxia lies on the Silk Road. Since ancient times, it has been a region connected to the Central Plains in the interior, the Western Regions in the west, and the desert in the north, with frequent ethnic exchanges. As a region traversed by the Yellow River, it also boasts an ancient and time-honored Yellow River civilization. Traces of human habitation can be found in Ningxia as early as 30,000 years ago. Famous tourist attractions in Ningxia include the Western Xia Royal Tombs, Shapotou in Zhongwei, Pingluo Sand Lake, Liupan Mountain Scenic Area, Zhongwei Gaomiao Temple, and Huoshizhai.
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Ningxia has been known as "the south of the Yangtze River in the northern frontier" since ancient times. It is also the best place for stargazing in China: at the foot of the Helan Mountains, on the banks of the Yellow River, in the heart of the Tengger Desert... It is no exaggeration to say that here you will have a starry sky that you will never forget in your life.
Maybe when you were a child you could see the starry sky as soon as you looked up, but due to the current environment and light pollution, you haven't seen the starry sky for a long time. It doesn't matter. When you come to Ningxia and see the stars covering the entire night sky with your own eyes, the shock is unrepeatable and breathtaking.
The first stop in Yinchuan is of course the Ningxia Museum. Getting familiar with the history of Ningxia will be of great help to your subsequent trip.
The Ningxia Museum is located on the East Street of People's Square in Jinfeng District, Yinchuan City. The exhibition hall is very rich in content, especially the "Colorful Sky of the New Year" exhibition, which has five chapters: "Dawn of Civilization", "Agricultural and Pastoral Homeland", "Important City on the Silk Road", "Tracing Daxia", and "North and South of the Saibei". It uses the rich language of cultural relics to narrate the splendid culture created by various ethnic groups in Ningxia over the past 30,000 years.
Among them, the three national treasures, the Hu Xuan Dance Stone Tomb Gate, the Gilded Bronze Bull, and the Hercules Inscription Support, are even more breathtaking. They are all representatives of Ningxia's historical and cultural relics. You can experience the national treasures up close, and the mysterious Xixia characters are shocking.
When I go to a strange city, besides visiting local museums, I love to go to the vegetable market. The vegetable market is the place closest to the lives of local people. It is full of the bustling atmosphere of the city. The sounds of hawking and bargaining all show the local environment and the character of the local people.
Shapotou is located in the west of Zhongwei City, on the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert, one of the five most beautiful deserts in China. It was called Shashan in ancient times and is located on the bank of the Yellow River. According to "Ming History Geography", Zhongwei "has Shashan in the west, also known as Wanhudui. The river is in the south."
Today, Shapotou combines the desert, the Yellow River, high mountains, and oasis, offering the majestic beauty of Northwest China and the exquisite scenery of the Yangtze River Delta. Here, you can cross the Yellow River on a sheepskin raft, the oldest form of transportation on the river, and enjoy China's largest natural sandboarding area. You can also ride a camel across the Tengger Desert, surf on an off-road vehicle, and experience the spectacle of the desert smoke and the sunset over the long river. For the brave, there's also a 3D glass river bridge and bungee jumping.
I highly recommend the camel ride through the desert. The yellow sand filled the air, and the sound of camel bells clung to the gentle breeze. It was truly breathtaking. The journey was actually quite short, taking only about 20 minutes. Imagine the ancients, who rode camels across the desert for months at a time. The vast expanse of the desert seemed to pale in comparison to the loneliness and powerlessness they felt. It only made me admire the courage of the ancients who traversed the Silk Road even more!
Tengger means "sky" in Mongolian, suggesting this desert is as vast as the heavens. The desert's pristine purity is unmatched by the sea or mountains, and perhaps the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring scenery is this.
Get up early to watch the sunrise in the desert. Wherever you look, you will see extreme desolation. Half of it is a sea of yellow sand stretching to the edge of the sky, and the other half is the sunrise rising from the depths of the desert, casting golden rays of light.
There is Dujiangyan in the south and Qingtongxia in the north. The Qingtongxia Yellow River Grand Canyon is located in Wuzhong City, the hometown of the Hui ethnic group known as the "Pearl of the Frontier". It is the last canyon in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and is known as the "Little Three Gorges of the Yellow River".
The scenic area has many attractions located on both sides of the Yellow River, including the Qingtongxia Dam, Ningxia Water Conservancy Expo, 108 Towers, Dayu Cultural Park, and Shili Changxia, which are dazzling.
The Grand Canyon is formed by the remnants of the Helan Mountains and the Niu Shou Mountains. Riding on a speedboat, you can see the ten-mile-long canyon with mountains and waters intertwined, cliffs on both sides, and various wonders.
The scenic area's 108 Pagodas are a particularly interesting sight. One of China's largest extant ancient pagoda complexes, the pagodas face west and east, nestled against the mountainside and overlooking the water. Silk scrolls and Buddhist tablets inscribed in Tangut script were unearthed beneath the pagoda bases. Built during the Tangut period, these solid Lamaist-style pagodas are arranged in twelve rows, following the mountain's contours, in odd numbers: 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19. The 108 pagodas, totaling 108, form a massive triangular complex, earning the name due to their number.
The Yellow River Tower in Qingtongxia City is a museum that fully displays the 5,000-year-old splendid civilization of the Yellow River. The overall style of the Yellow River Tower imitates the ancient buildings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The main colors are Chinese red and rich yellow. Climbing to the top of the tower, you can have a bird's eye view of Qingtongxia City, watch the rolling water of the Yellow River, feel the magnificent scenery of the rushing river, and think about the past and present.
Zhenbeibao was originally a dilapidated frontier fortress built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its walls were said to be constructed of rammed earth and glutinous rice, with hardly a single brick missing. After hundreds of years of weathering, the walls are riddled with holes and gullies.
In 1961, Zhang Xianliang, who was undergoing "labor reform", discovered Zhenbeibao. In his own words, "I felt an indomitable and tenacious vitality emanating from the depths of the loess earth." He also wrote about this place in his novel. Later, it was gradually developed into a film and television city for some crews to come and shoot film and television dramas.
Because so many classic movies have been shot in Zhenbeibao Western Film City, such as Xie Jin's "The Herdsman", Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum", Tsui Hark's "New Dragon Inn", Wong Kar-wai's "Ashes of Time", Li Rengang's "The King's Guards", etc., Zhenbeibao Western Film City has the reputation of "Chinese movies come out from here".
Of course, the reason why this place has become a popular check-in spot is more because of Stephen Chow’s "A Chinese Odyssey". Almost all the classic scenes in the movie were shot here.
When I was a child, I first heard of Helan Mountain because of Yue Fei’s poem "Man Jiang Hong", which said, "Breaking through the gap in Helan Mountain." Although Yue Fei never visited Helan Mountain in Ningxia in his life, the majestic spirit revealed in the poem is inspiring.
Later I learned that Helan Mountain was the location for some scenes in Zhao Wei's version of "Mulan." Walking into the mountains, I can almost hear Mulan's cry as she delivered her battle cry, "The general may abandon me, but I, Mulan, will never betray my country!" Today, under the majestic sky, I can still hear the glint of swords and the clatter of horses' hooves from the ancient battlefield.
In ancient times, the Helan Mountains were a place where northern ethnic minorities, including the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Uighurs, Tubo, and Dangxiang, lived and prospered, nomadic, and hunting. The rock paintings carved into the rocks of the Helan Mountains reflect the people's yearning and pursuit for a better life.
In the heart of the Helan Mountains, which stretch over 200 kilometers from north to south, there are more than 20 sites of rock paintings. The most representative of these are the Helankou rock paintings, which also serve as an art gallery for China's nomadic peoples.
Shuidonggou is the earliest excavated Paleolithic cultural site in China. It is also a grand view of my country's Ming Dynasty Great Wall, beacon towers, castles, trenches, soldier caves, grand canyons, watchtowers and other military defense buildings. It is the only most complete three-dimensional military defense system of the Great Wall in China.
The unique environment and landscape have made this area a popular filming location for numerous television dramas and movies, such as the film "The King's Guards," starring Zhao Wei and Donnie Yen. The canyon, shrouded in danger and filled with hidden weapons, was actually filmed in a Ming Dynasty cave where soldiers were hidden. The scene at the end of the film, where Zhao Wei's character Qiao Hua stands at the Great Wall, ringing a bell and seeing the silhouette of a blue dragon appear through a telescope, once brought me to tears in the cinema. I never imagined that one day I would find myself standing in the same place where Zhao Wei once stood. In a trance, the ringing of the bell evoked an inexplicable emotion that speaks volumes. Hope is happiness, isn't it?
When I came to the Shahu Ecological Tourism Area in Shizuishan City, Ningxia, I think I should have a good understanding of why Ningxia can be called "Jiangnan on the Great Wall".
Shahu is a tourist ecological zone on the "Silk Road Post" that combines the elegance of the Jiangnan water town with the grandeur of the northern desert, and the twelve hours here are extremely beautiful.
In the morning, you can take a boat tour, feel the lake breeze caress your face, the sunlight shimmering on the surface, creating ripples, and listen to the birdsong. It's truly relaxing. Here, it's not the alarm clock that wakes you, but the morning light and the birdsong. In the afternoon, stroll along the reed-lined wooden paths for a refreshing coolness. Or, ride a camel through the desert, listening to the gentle tinkle of camel bells – a truly wonderful feeling. As the sun sets, the sand lake is bathed in golden light, and the nearby Helan Mountains appear translucent and serene. The desert nights are even more captivating, the azure sky filled with stars. Enjoy a barbecue buffet, sing and dance around the bonfire, and gaze up at the stars with your loved one, making a promise of eternal love.
In addition, there are various entertainment activities to experience in the scenic area, such as hot air balloon rides, desert motorcycles, sand sculpture making, desert KTV, etc., so you can party here for three days and three nights without getting tired.
My trip to Ningxia was a whirlwind of comings and goings, traveling through different places, seeing different landscapes, hearing different stories, and experiencing different perspectives on life. Every story has an ending; what comes comes, and what goes goes. Face life with a smile, and let every ending become a new beginning.
Travel isn't about the destination, but about the people and experiences along the way, the beautiful memories and views. Life is a journey full of unknowns, and it doesn't stop for the scenery. We can't turn back, nor can we stop. If we do, we'll miss even better scenery. A sense of peace, a sense of clarity, a moment of feeling, a landscape—that's our life. Farewell, Ningxia, and that windswept summer!
